How journalists can avoid ethical landmines and other traps -IPI Nigeria workshop

By Egena Sunday Ode

Penultimate week, senior Nigerian  journalists gathered for two days in Abuja, the country’s capital to rub minds on the future of the journalism profession. It was a self assessment session and a platform to share experiences and make some projections on how to safeguard the profession and its practitioners, whom many have considered to be endangered.

Themed “How to Avoid SLAPP Suites and Remain Ethical,” the two day training focused essentially on media law, ethics and fact checking-a refresher. It is an open secret that people in power are going about every day seeking which journalists or media platforms to devour. That is the lot of journalism and journalists across the world, and there’s therefore, the need to find some safeguards in order to avoid being preyed upon by those who may be uncomfortable or unsettled by the job of the journalist. And this reality, is perhaps the reason participants at the event paid necessary  attention during the training sessions sponsored by International Press Institute (IPI) with support from MacArthur foundation and PrimMorg.

The sessions revealed that governments, politicians and influential members of the society often use what is called Strategic Law Suites Against Public Participation (SLAPP) as instrument of repression to undermine good journalism. And that the best way to navigate SLAPP is for journalists and media organisations to be ethics compliant.

In one or the most exciting sessions, IPI Nigeria President, Mojeed Musikilu took participants through his presentation–Practices That Can Trigger Repression–where he observed that “Governments usually do not like critical media. They like media that act as their PR tools or megaphones. But they dislike media that to accountability or exposes their misdeeds. They are consistently looking for excuses to crush you. Don’t give them the ammunition to crush you.”

He then went ahead to suggest how journalists can dodge the “bullets” very likely to be fired at them and often too, by authoritarian governments. “We must consistently tread carefully so as not to give bad or authoritarian governments genuine reasons to crush us.” He said journalists can dodge the bullets effectively by knowing their jobs, being ethical and professional and respecting laws.

Musikilu who is also the Editor in Chief of Premium Times of media owners and practitioners should avoid repression, the must be prepare to pay attention to and observe “little things” such as driving without licenses, building without approvals, disobeying traffic rules and expired vehicle papers. He also noted that any government can set traps for a journalist or media organisations by going through their records to detect violations. In that wise, he advised that paying operational licensing fees, taxes and other statutory obligations would help to avoid repression.

The IPI Nigeria President equally noted that journalists.and media owners can make themselves vulnerable by violating property and building laws, inaccurate, false or defamatory reporting and unethical business practices.

Taking the journalists through the code of media ethics, Maxwell Kadiri, a civil society activist and lawyer, emphasized that they should strive to report and interprete honestly, strive for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of facts; avoid suppression of relevant available facts, distorting emphasis. “Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply. Do not place unnecessary emphasis on personal characteristics, including race,ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, family relationships, religious belief or intellectual disability.”

Kadiri emphasized that ethical journalism principles included truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality. He advised that journalists should look beyond the story and go extra mile to prevent SLAPP issues.

Another lawyer, Tobi Soniyi listed some legal loopholes that should be avoided by journalists.They included defamation, plagiarism, contempt of court, copyright  issues and privacy laws. Soniyi pointed out that the provision of Chapter  22 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which states that the mass media shall hold governments accountable to the people will not provide any remedy for the journalist when infractions are committed as that provision is not justiceable.

Sharing his experience, former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, who addressed the participants on censorship by public office holders said nobody can point to any case where the Buhari administration was involved in deliberate censorship of newsmen. He explained that the former president just stayed aloof from mediate related issues as professionals were expected to handle any challenges of the day.

IPI Global Board Member, Raheem Adedoyin, who also made a presentation at the training programme, cautioned on the issue of censorship as he noted that some of them could be so mild that the individual journalist may not be able to decipher. He said to strike an ethical balance, media practitioners should be circumspect about the type of consultancy services they offer to politicians and other public office holders and even business executives, for integrity sake.

Since it may not be possible journalists to completely avoid repression, no matter how hard they tried, Edaetan Ojo’s paper on where to seek help in times of trouble came handy. The university don took the participants through a number of options available for journalists in need of legal aid on account of their professional practice. Titled, “Dealing With Law Suits: Available Helps”, he listed Joint Civic Defence Fund, MRA Legal Assistance, Public Interest Law Partners, Media Defence and Pan African Lawyers Union among other that could be of assistance to journalists facing litigations.

The presentation by Country Representative of Africa Check, David Akinjobi, was another one that held participants to a rapt attention. It centered on the need for journalists to verify every bit of information the come across in the course of their duty. Akinjobi emphasized that the present era of social media and citizen journalism has fact checking more compelling. He noted that Google and such other platforms are readily available to offer necessary assistance in terms of cross checking information before pushing same the public. That way, he added, the credibility and trust in the media would be enhanced.

The presentation by the Managing Editor of The Nation Newspapers, Northern Operations, Yususf Ali, was an opportunity to share experiences of an outstanding Nigerian journalist on his arduous journey through numerous litigations bothering on libel. Step by step, he narrated how he navigated through over 13 libel cases, winning almost all of them. One of the cases even involved a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

But Ali cautioned that journalists should do everything possible to avoid libel cases because of their resource and time consuming nature.

He, however, gave some tips on how to avoid libel suits. They included avoiding frivolous, malicious and maligning stories, applying the “sith sense”, evaluation of resources at your disposal, learning to keep records-being tidier-keeping every document, tape recorder, video clips, handwritten notes; keeping your eyes on the ball and chosing the right lawyer because of technicalities.

Other tips are be courageous, learn to stand alone; you need war chest to fight your battle; have time for the turf and learn a bit of libel law.

Ali’s presentation opened the floodgate for other journalists to share their different experience with during the interactive session.